Austral English / A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia

by Edward Ellis Morris

<hw>Digger</hw>, <i>n</i>. a gold-miner. The earliest mines were alluvial. Of course the word is used elsewhere, but in Australia it has this special meaning.

1852. Title:

"Murray's Guide to the Gold Diggings.—The Australian Gold
Diggings; where they are, and how to get at them; with letters
from Settlers and Diggers telling how to work them. London:
Stewart & Murray) 1852."

1853. Valiant, `Letter to Council,' given in McCombie's `History of Victoria' (1853), c. xvi. p. 248:

"It caused the diggers, as a body, to pause in their headlong career."

1855. W. Howitt, `Land, Labour, and Gold,' vol. ii. p. 148, Letter xxx:

"Buckland River, January 29th, 1854. The diggers here are a very quiet and civil race, at the same time that they are a most active and laborious one. . . . The principal part of the diggers here are from the Ovens."

1864. J. Rogers, `New Rush,' pt. ii. p. 31:

"Drink success to the digger's trade,
And break up to the squatter's."

1896. H. Lawson, `While the Billy boils,' p. 148: